


shoot to thrill (my heart, my love)

by orphan_account



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Healing, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 13:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18550597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Post-Misplaced. Zatanna injures herself while on a mission and is forced to let it heal naturally, ie. without magic. She’s still struggling with the loss of her father and it worsens inactive and lonely as she’s stuck at the YJ base for weeks. Artemis notices that her girlfriend is struggling and tries to cheer her up, encouraging her to heal and giving her all the love she needs and deserves along the way.





	shoot to thrill (my heart, my love)

Zatanna knows what pain feels like: the sharp sting of a betrayal, the gut-wrenching wound of a loss, or even the all-consuming feeling of anger—lessons learned when she found out, again and again, that the world isn’t fair and that you can’t count on anything going your way.

Life is as unpredictable as magic, as her father would say. Or was it the other way around? That magic is as unpredictable as life?

She never expected this. Out of everything she thought she would be feeling after losing her father, losing her ability to walk and now losing her powers, she never expected she would be feeling nothing. Last week’s mission was a disaster on multiple fronts, where Zatanna had overexerted herself, which resulted in a broken foot. She wasn’t even able to use her magic to heal it because her magic reserves were low enough as they were. Now she’s on bedrest at the cave, as ordered by Billy—Billy! of all people—who had advised her to lay off from using magic for a while until her body managed to heal itself naturally.

She stays in bed most of the time when she’s not studying some new spells, but what good are spells when you can’t even practice using them? Her only solace at the end of every day is the sight of Artemis, coming back from an exciting and dangerous mission, with cuts and bruises and the spirit of a hundred fires burning bright within her.

It’s kind of incredible—magical—even, how quickly she can brighten up a room when she walks in. 

“Feeling any better today?” Artemis asks after a shower, lying back on the bed and stretching out her spine.

“Hard to tell when each day’s the same.”

She sits back up and gives her a worried look. “Do you want to leave the cave?”

Zatanna shrugs. She sees the way Artemis looks at her with pity (maybe it’s not pity, but that’s what she sees nonetheless) and she knows that it’s coming from a place of love, but she’s had enough of that from everyone.

“I’ve got an idea,” she replies, eyes lighting up.

 

-

 

Artemis, turns out, is as creative as she is loving and beautiful. She takes Zatanna out on the Super-Cycle out for a ride. One thing about Artemis that Zatanna managed to find out early on when they started dating: there are few things in life she loves more than high-speed chases and bikes. Zatanna’s preferred method of transport is usually levitation or teleportation, but flying on an alien vehicle isn’t too bad either.

Unfortunately, Zatanna’s body seems to react poorly to the sudden altitude, the rather cold winds, and the adrenaline rush after more than a week of staying in bed, indoors, with little exercise or stimulation. Her leg starts to cramp and Artemis notices the sour look on her face when she turns around. 

“Sorry—leg hurts a little,” she says as she holds the cast. How easy would this all be if she could only use her magic again?

“Hey, that’s okay. I’ll set us down.”

She parks the Super-Cycle on the beach, where it shifts back into Sphere and starts rolling around in the sand. Zatanna sits down and Artemis helps to straighten out her leg in the cast. She puts an arm around her and strokes her back gently, if not a little tentatively.

“Can we just sit here?” Zatanna says, looking upwards at the stars in the clear night sky. One day, she’s going to make a dress out of all of those beautiful stars.

“Of course! Anything you want,” Artemis says, pecking her on the cheek. “Sorry if my idea of fun wasn’t exactly what you had in mind. How have you been getting along in the tower?”

“I do miss our missions. I had a nightmare about Harm last night, that I fought him again but you weren’t there with me. I was paralyzed and the next thing I knew there was a sword being pushed right through my chest. Surprisingly, that wasn’t even the worst one I’ve had this week.”

“Zee,” Artemis sighs, struggling to meet her eyes.

It hits Zatanna all of a sudden, then, that she’s feeling depressed. She hasn’t felt this way in years; the last time was over an identity-crisis she had when she tried to learn about her mother and her family origins. She tried to run away from home and practice magic on her own, but she ended up back in the safety of her father’s arms. 

Artemis wants to be there for her, she knows, but this is all new and she’s not sure of what she needs right now, much less know how to communicate it to her girlfriend. Artemis is anything if not determined, though, so she stands up and extends her hands out to Zatanna sitting on the ground.

“Let’s go for a swim. I’ll hold you. We can just float in the waters and Sphere can look after us from the beach.”

Zatanna smiles and gets pulled up off the ground. Artemis’ hands are wrapped around her neck and Zatanna locks her in an embrace around her waist.   
“Now that’s an idea I can get behind.”

 

-

 

As fun as their night was, Artemis becomes quite busy over the next week. Her one romantic night of swimming (or rather, floating) was a source of light in the middle of her dark days, but even that light starts to slowly dim as the days go by without Artemis.

They call each other as much as they can. Artemis sends selfies of her from the mission, sometimes Dick or Wally would photobomb her. It makes her smile in the middle of the night. Artemis is always surprised when she texts back. Zatanna doesn’t tell her that she’s been crying about her father, but somehow Artemis always knows what to say to make her feel better.

 _Miss you, Z. Don’t stay up too long carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders._  

When Artemis comes back, she brings Zatanna back a souvenir from the mission. Courtesy of Wally, of course, but Artemis manages to convince him to let her keep it for her girlfriend. They bump into each other in the hallway while Zatanna is heading towards the kitchen in her crutches, nearly toppling her over. 

“Zee!” Artemis catches her, eyes morbidly wide. Zatanna notices the dark circles under them, too, from all those sleepless nights on patrol during the mission. She knows Artemis worries about her not getting enough sleep, but Zatanna wonders whether she’s really the one to be worried about.

“Sorry, my co-ordination has slightly become less reliable after getting hit in the head by a boomerang once or twice.”

“You went against Captain Boomerang?” Zatanna asks. “I thought you guys were going after Deadshot.”

“Oh, the whole gang was there, including Slipknot, Killer Croc, Katana and even Harley Quinn. Amanda Waller really wanted those experimental boosters. They put up a real fight, Dick can testify.”

“Do we know what’s in those boosters now?”

Artemis shrugs. “We sent them to Batman. Dick and Tim are probably busy poking their heads in them, but I took the first flight back home to make sure I could spend more time with you.”

Zatanna blushes. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I do. In fact, I’ve taken the rest of the month off.”

“You what? Arty, you can’t—they need you!”

“They’re going to miss an archer, big deal. They’ve been making do without one of the world’s most powerful magicians, so unless the world is going up in flames, I’ll let them take care of it. Besides, I know you’ve been feeling lonely, and that’s okay—I mean, I know everyone’s walking on eggshells around you because they think of everything you’re going through and they’re overwhelmed just imagining the amount of strength it takes to keep it all together.”

Zatanna doesn’t realize that she’s started crying until Artemis starts pressing her hands on her cheeks and wipes away her tears.

“Oh, baby, I know it’s hard. But you don’t have to keep it all together, not for me. Everyone knows you’re stronger than the rest of us. Zee, you can take us all out in your sleep with a spell you thought of in a dream. And yes, you are technically half Homo Magi—you’ve got that in your blood—but you are human, and one thing about being human is that we get hurt in ways that only time can heal. Be it broken bones or broken hearts.”

“Where’d you learn to be poetic, Lady Artemis, Greek goddess?” Zatanna manages to say through her sniffles.

Artemis laughs, pulling her in for a kiss. “Helps that my girlfriend is a gorgeous well of inspiration. What can I say, Zatanna Zatara? You’re my muse.”

For the first time in a while, Zatanna feels something picking up in her heart, a spark of magic flowing through her as she feels her toes moving for the first time in a while. She pushes herself up on her tiptoes for a brief moment to Artemis’ surprise. Artemis has always been a realist, first and foremost, but she knows the value of hope and the importance of letting people in.

It’s time for Zatanna to do exactly that—open herself up to heal and to love. She feels like the luckiest person in the world with someone so incredible to help her along the way, someone who knows what she needs and knows how to love her in all the best ways.

 


End file.
